New Rams defensive end Myles Garrett may wish he’d gotten his $29.2 million option bonus when it was originally due.
As he prepares to move from Ohio to California, he’s looking at an increase in his top tax rate from 3.125 percent to 13.3 percent.
For his option bonus, which is now due to be paid by seven days before the start of the regular season, it’s a difference of more than 10 percent of the total amount. Which is more than $2.9 million that will otherwise be missing from his after-tax payment.
The tax obligation is more than enough to get Garrett to mobilize his agents, lawyers, and accountants to explore whether there’s a way to legitimately make it an Ohio payment, not a California payment. Stay in Ohio as long as possible. Get the Rams to make the payment before he loads up the truck and moves to Beverly. (Hills, that is.)
With Garrett already giving up $1 million this year by sacrificing his offseason workout bonus, it’s a way to make it back and then some — if he can legitimately figure out a way to earn the $29.2 million while he’s still living in Ohio.
And if the Rams will be reworking Garrett’s contract in order to bump up his new-money APY in order to close the gap between Garrett’s $40 million and Will Anderson’s $50 million, the sooner they do it, the better for Garrett. He needs to get the money while he’s still an Ohio resident in order to be able to make the argument that it’s not subject to California taxes.
Of course, California may not be willing to go along with any W-2 gamesmanship. For that kind of money, California will be as aggressive in trying to get 13.3 percent of the $29.2 million (or whatever his pre-relocation bonus payment may be) as Garrett should be in trying to avoid it.